stephenson



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. STEPHENSON. VESTIBULE STREET GAR.

No. 450,848. Patented Apr. 21, 1891.

WITNESSES INT F 'TOR 2 a Af 9% (X flftorney mi Nomus PETERS 00., mom-mun, vusumcwn n. c.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. STEPHENSON. VESTIBULE STREET GAR Patented Apr. 21,1891.

WITNESSES n1: "cams vzraas cm, PNDTWLITHu, wnsuwcron, n. c.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. STEPHENSON.

VESTIBULE STREET GAR.

No. 450,848. Patented Apr. 21, 1891.

9% Attorney (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

J. STEPHENSON.

VESTIBULB STREET GAR No. 450,848. Patented Apr. 21, 1891.

Attorney WITNESSES W/AL/dj, 2% 2? irn STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JOHN STEPHENSON, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

VESTIBU LE STREET-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 450,848, dated April 21, 1891.

Application filed December 1, 1890. Serial No- 873,1l4. (N model.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN STEPHENSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in vestibule-Cars, of which the :t'ollowing is a specification.

In electric-car service new necessities in car construction have developed. The motorman must be free from contact with passen' gers. Hence passengers have been excluded from the car-front, and thereby not only reduce the carrying capacity of the car, but the car lost its equipoise, the rear platform drooped, the front raised, and the front wheels, being relieved from their proportional burden, easily mounted the rails at curves and left the track. Some of the electrical machinery necessarily left on the rear platform obstructed the movement of passengers, and also exposed the machinery to be tampered with. Storms disordered and deteriorated the delicate mechanism of the controller and rheostat and other parts of the mechanism and caused. to the motor-man discomfort and disability. Exclusion of passengers from the front platform reduced the conductors receipts materially, and in stormy weather the rush of passengers excessively crowded the open and exposed rear platform.

The object of my invention is to remedy all the diiiiculties above recited; and it consists, chiefly, in an improved construction of the car-body and its attachments constituting a vestibule-car.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention, in

' which- Figure 1 is a side View of one end of a vestibule-car. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the end of the car. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section on the lines 4 4 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 5 is a similar vertical crosssection on the lines 5 5, looking in the direction of the arrow; and Figs. 6 and 7 are details.

In carrying out my invention I adopt any of the ordinary forms or sizes of car-body, preferring the body to be, say, sixteen feet long and seven feet six inches wide, which is the full size of an ordinary city-car and of the one illustrated in the accompanying drawings. This car-body A may be constructed in any usual manner with the usual end walls omitted, except a small section at each corner pillar,a vertical door standing pillar B rising from or near the foot of each corner pillar C and extending up to the end top rail with an arch between the standing pillars which supports the end of the car-roof.

From under the floor of the car-body A, I shoot out endward four timbers or platformbearers D D D D of desired length, with their outer ends approximated. These bearers are secured beneath and to the cross-timbers A A of the car-floor secondarily, as it is desirable to drop these bearers nearer the earth and fill in between them and the crosstimbers filling-pieces D", so that when the floor is placed upon the bearers D D D D one intervening step E will enable passengers conveniently to step from the ground to the platform-floor F of the vestibule. On this platform-floor F, I erect four walls namely, one G G at each side of the car, one G at the end of the platform, connecting the two side walls G G, and this wall may be straight across, as shown in the drawings, or curved or in a section of a polygon, which latter may be preferable where practicable. Between this end wall G and the end of the car-body A proper is placed an intervening wall or partition G dividing the platform compartment into two parts II H,witha door in the partition G communicating between the parts. The compartment H next the carbody is provided at each side with a door I, sliding outside the walls G G, respectively, toward the end of the extension, and the parts are preferably provided with glass sashes t to slide downward. The section II of the extension inclosed by these two doors I sliding endwise constitutes the vestibule for entrance and exit of passengers, and, being under roof, forms an extension of the main body of the car, inclosing all passengers protected from cold and stormy weather. The sliding doors I of the vestibule may remain open when desirable, and passengers may enter and leave the car with improved facility. One door, however, may remain closed to prevent passengers from leaving the car on the danger side.

The connection of the vestibule practically extends the passengers room, and as the front end of the car will be more desirable when thus constructed than the rear, the latter will be less crowded and the equipoise of the car better preserved. The end compartment or motor-cabs H are for the motor-man and his machinery, which latter is illustrated in a conventional form in the drawings, and this compartment is inclosed and provided with movable glass sashes g,which may be dropped when desirable. The motor-maus cab being always exclusive, his machinery is preserved from meddling. lVhen desirable, the conductor may relieve the rear platform by standing in the motor-cab at the rear of the car to receive fares from passengers.

The doors I of the vestibule extend below the upper surface of the vestibuleefloor F, and

the rails J, on which the door-sheaves K travel, together with the door-sheaves, are located under the vestibule-floor F to prevent con tact with passengers. These entrance-doors to the vestibule, as well as the partition-door G4 between the vestibule and cab apartment, are preferably all provided with drop-sashes, and the cab being also provided with dropsashes, a free circulation of air may be obtained when desirable.

As electric cars are often provided with wheels of larger diameter than usual, the earfioor A is raised from the ground, which would ordinarily raise the car-platform steps to an inconvenient height; but I drop the platform with its compartments and interpose between the end sills and the platformbearers sub-sills B, as before described, to fill the spaces, and through the sub-sills and end sills the platform suspension-bolt d passes to hold up the platform-bearers to ordinary elevation.

The entrance-doors which close the vestibule have at their lower edges sheave-plates K, with their legs K extending below the door, and the feet of the legs forming axles on which the two flanged sheave-wheels K are placed, and fit the broad surface channelbar or sheave-rail J, located under the side of the vestibule-door sill, and supported by hangers J The axle of each wheel is of sufficient dimensions to have an oil-passage with its outlet at the upper side of the axle within the wheel and a receiving-mouth of the oil-passage in the sheave-plate at a higher level than the axle-sheave. The entrancestepsE at each corner of the car commence at the cab corners and pass the doorways, as shown in the drawings, and are supported on hangers e. The steps are broad and form fenders for warding off passing vehicles. A

stop E on the step at each side of the entrance prevents slipping of passengers feet.

In view of the importance of having good handles to assist passengers when entering or leaving the car, I provide the body corner pillar grab-handles M, with bulbs on on their vertical members, which prevent the hands themselves, I secure to the inner side of each door standing pillar B, a hand-support Q, which may be utilized by the passengers.

WhileI have thus described and illustrated the preferred form of embodying my invention and explained the details of construction, it will be understoodthat I do not limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts herein set forth, as they.

may be varied by those skilled in the art without materially departing from the principles of the invention, and I avail myself of the right to use any and all the features of construction, either together or separately, or

in connection with their equivalent features of construction.

l/Vhat I claim is 1. A car with the motor-mans position iso lated from the front platform or vestibule by a transverse partition in which is a door opening directly into the vestibule, substantially as described.

2. A car with its electric controller and carbrake handles inclosed in a compartment at the end of the front platform, partitioned off from the vestibule, substantially as described.

3. A car having an inclosed isolated place for the motor-man eudward of all passengers and connecting directly with the vestibule, substantially as described.

4. A car having its end-platform floor at a lower level than the floor of the car-body proper and the platform divided to form a motor-mans closed aparment, and a vestibule between that apartment and the end of the technical ear-body, substantially as described.

5. Acar having its end-platform floor below the level of the car-body floor, and such lower floor divided into two parts, the part second from the end of the car being merged into the passengers apartment by omitting a portion of the end wall of the car-body, substantially as described.

6. A car with its end-platform floor below the level of the car-body floor, and the part of the car with the depressed fioo'r divided into two parts, the first or endward part being for the motor-man and connecting with the second or vestibule part by a doorway in the division-wall, substantially as described.

7. A tram-car door with its end platform divided by a transverse wall, the platform being narrower than the car-floor at its junction with the car-body, and the end wall of the carbody being omitted at or near these points of junction, substantially as described.

8. A car with its endplatform floor depressed, and on which rise four walls each having glass above the belt-line, substantially as described.

9. A car with the floor of its end platform depressed, on which is a vestibule between the car-body and the motor-inans cab apartment, the entrance of the vestibule closable with sliding doors, substantially as described.

10. A car with each vestibule entrance closed by a single door adapted to be opened by sliding sidewise toward the car end, the door having its glass sash prepared to slide downward within the door, substantially as described.

11. A car with two compartments on the depressed floor of its end platform, all the walls of the two compartments having glass sash-frames constructed to slide down within the walls, substantially as described.

12. A car with its platform-floor depressed, on which floor is a three-walled vestibule, each wall having a door with glass sashes sliding down within the door, substantially as described.

13. A tram-car with two compartments on each platform, the vestibule part having entrance-doors sliding outside the walls, the bottom of the doors extending below the platform-floor and supported on sheaves traveling on rails located beyond the doors under the platform-fioor, substantially as described.

14. A tram-car with vestibule and motorcab on the car-platform lowered below the car-body, and a sub end sill interposed between the end sill and the platform-bearers, both of which are secured to and carried by the end sill, substantially as described.

15. A car with vestibule and motor-cab and with entrance through the vestibule, the entrance-door sliding open alongside the walls and on ways beneath the floor of the cab, substantially as described.

16. A tram-car with vestibule and motorcab having its entrance-step commencing ator near the corner of the car, with the outer edge of the step, forming the fender, extending to and passing the entrance-door, substantially as described.

17. A tram-car with entrance-step beginning at or near the corner of the car, the outer edge of the step, forming a fender, extending centerward beyond the corner pillar, and a foot-stop on the surface of the step at each side of the entrance-door, substantially as described.

18. A tram-car with vestibule-entrance and motor-mans cab, the opening door sliding between the cab and the cab hand-rail, substantially as described.

19. A tram-car with its cab hand-rail end secured to the cab corner pillar and the other end supported by the door hand-rail, substantially as described.

20. A car with its door hand-rail supporting an end of the cab hand-rail, from which end is pendent a grab-handle, substantially as described.

21. A vestibule-car having a pendent grabhandle at one side of the doorway and at the outer side, attached to the corner pillar, a vertical bulbed grab-handle, substantially as described.

22. A vestibule-car with entrance-door sliding endward of the car, and a vertical handrail secured to the door standing pillar-inside the car, substantially as described.

23. A car with its vestibule-door having its sheaves on a rail under the door-sill and extending under the cab, substantially as described.

24. A car with its vestibule-door on rails beneath the door-sill and cab-floor, the doorsheave wheels each on an axle lubricated from an oil-passage with its discharge at the upper side of the axle-journal, and the receiving-mouth of the oil-passage at a higherlevel in the sheave-plate than the upper side of the sheave-axle,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN STEPHENSON.

Witnesses:

S. A. STEPHENSON, J OSEPH B. STEPHENSON. 

